Testing software with different versions of IE and Windows

This post is not about profoundly new information, but it is so extremely valuable that I can’t image anyone not taking advantage of it.  And, its free!

Microsoft makes testing your software on various editions of Windows, and with various versions of IE so much easier by their continued support for making time-limited versions of their OS and other applications available for free.  They do this via their Virtual PC platform. 

At any time I have tried, I just go to their Virtual PC downloads section, and get a virtual hard disk copy of one of the available versions of the OS, download it, and within about 30 minutes, I am running my software on a completely clean installation of windows, and whatever browser I am targetting.

You first need a copy of the Virtual PC software, which MS has made available for free (!).

Get it at:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx

Then you need to download an image of the OS.  At the time of this writing, there are 4 Operating System images available on the following page: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en

The exact ones available changes, so just seach for “VPC Image”, and you’ll find a few.  I found TFC and SQL server images, which could also be useful for testing.

This has made testing Serial Key Maker a much more certain process.  I can install on clean systems, and muddy the water as much as I like and see how my installation process goes, and how my program runs.

For example, I develop on a beefy Vista machine.  However, I have just about all the security settings turned way down, and run as an administrator.  I forget all the things I have turned off to be able to develop efficiently.  So, to get a good sense of how my applications will run on a vanilla (a.k.a locked down) Vista install, I just fire up the VPC and run my new version.

I have found and fixed tons of unobvious but annoying bugs this way.  I’d honestly pay for the ability to do what Microsoft is (currently) giving out for free.